Outdoors can beat the indoors for learning, conference is told
The outdoors is capable of delivering benefits to children's learning that no amount of high-quality indoor provision can match - that was the key message at Nursery World's Outdoor Play and Learning conference.
The event, held in London last week and attended by 170 delegates, focused on the potential of outdoor learning, its principles and best practice.
Keynote speaker Wendy Titman, who has gained a worldwide reputation in creating 'enabling environments' for young children, said, 'The concept of children having easy access to external environments of quality in which to spend significant periods of time seemed to disappear over time.
'These days, even those working within the early years sector haven't heard of Margaret McMillan, who founded nursery schools on the belief that being outdoors was essential to children's healthy growth and development.'
Julian Grenier, head of Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children's Centre in London, said that young children 'feel life in every limb, and that should be our starting point.'
Lack of funding and parents' attitudes were cited by delegates as major obstacles to developing better outdoor provision, although practitioners' lack of understanding of outdoor play emerged as the biggest barrier.
Invited to vote about whose attitudes they would most like to change, delegates voted parents (45 per cent), practitioners (40 per cent), head teachers (8 per cent) and Ofsted (7 per cent).
And asked which of four options they would most like to see, 42 per cent of delegates voted in favour of better provision for under-twos. Next came free-flow play for reception classes (27 per cent), more forest schools (17 per cent) and dedicated outdoor areas for pre-schools (13 per cent).
